


Deafening Silence

by parker_holland_osterfield



Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Chaos Walking - Patrick Ness
Genre: Chaos Walking!au, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 12:23:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20546114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parker_holland_osterfield/pseuds/parker_holland_osterfield
Summary: Reader finds the lone survivor of a devastating wreck but in a world where everyone knows everything about everyone, she knows nothing about him.





	Deafening Silence

**Author's Note:**

> So I was inspired by the Chaos Walking books by Patrick Ness (100% recommend you read them) and I'm so excited for the movie that I wrote a Chaos Walking!au for Tom. There's a lot of plot that I still want to put in but if I put it in one fic then it would probably be like 10k words or more. So instead, I'm making this a series!! No idea how often it'll be updated because classes have officially started for me but I will update as often as I can!
> 
> As always, never never never, don't EVER repost my work somewere else without my EXPLICIT permission. If you want to read more of my stuff, you can visit my tumblr (@thequeensardine). I'll probably eventually repost all of them on here but I have no idea when that'll be. In the meantime, enjoy!

Being the only girl in a town of men was hell. Especially when you could hear their every thought.

The war with the Spetz wiped out every female in Praxton except for you, which you never understood. Will and Cole would always just tell you that you weren’t fully exposed to It and so you weren’t fully affected.

You could see in their Noise that they were hiding something but they would always change the subject if you pushed harder so you were forced to just accept their vague explanation.

See, in the war, the Spetz released It: some kind of biological weapon that killed all the women and infected all the men with Noise, allowing them to hear each other’s thoughts. You could hear them, too, but they couldn’t hear you; you could only guess it was part of you not being “fully exposed.”

The men didn’t like that they couldn’t hear you but you could hear them. When the Noise first set in and they came to that realization, feelings were mixed. There was a general consensus that they didn’t want you around but there were different ideas as to how to do that. Some wanted to lock you away, imprison you somewhere you “couldn’t spy on them”; others actually wanted to kill you.

It’s probably worth mentioning now that you were barely a toddler when It was released and all of the chaos ensued.

The leader of the town, Judge Elijah Prax, gave you a much lighter sentence: you, Will, and Cole were sent to live on the edge of town, miles away from everyone else. This also meant miles away from the market and the school. So, Will and Cole built a farm and tried to homeschool you as best they could.

It sucked but it was better than being dead. Or so they told you.

\--

You were used to the constant hum in your ears of Will and Cole’s thoughts. Sometimes, if you really concentrated, you could listen in on the town but it was always like a whisper. Even in the woods behind your barn, you could hear your guardians but now combined with the birds and squirrels and whatever else lived in the cool sanctuary of the trees. If you ventured deep enough, you could completely drown out your parental figures, though you weren’t supposed to go that far. Well, today you did.

And you heard someone. Loud and clear.

His Noise hit you so hard, you stumbled a bit, like you were just sucker-punched. _ Crash. Fire. Hurt. Mum. Dad. Ow. Help. _

_ Help. _

That one word sent you into action. You had a big heart despite the shitty hand life had dealt you. You never hesitated to bring a wounded animal back to the farm until it healed, but a person was a whole other story. You followed his Noise until it was a roar that made your head spin. The scene in front of you was...horrifying. A smoking hunk of metal was lying on top of some downed trees, branches were scattered everywhere, and the smell-

The smell was what hit you the hardest: hot metal and charred wood and what you could only guess was burning flesh, based on the knowledge that someone had called out from this spot.

_ Okay. I heard a voice. So where are you? _

_ Help. _

You whipped to your right and saw what looked to be an arm sticking out from under a pile of branches. You darted over and started clearing them off of the body to find…

A boy.

Well, not a _ boy _. But he was young. You pulled him the rest of the way out from under the fallen branches and away from the wreckage site. When you were far enough away that you could only smell the fresh scent of the trees around you, you stopped. You crouched down next to him, running your hand over his tangled hair, down to his ash-covered face and finally his neck, pressing two fingers to his pulse point. Determining he was strong enough to make it to the farm in one piece, you did your best to lift him up onto your back and half-carry, half-drag him back home.

You knew you were in trouble as soon as you reached the edge of the woods and heard Will and Cole calling out for you in their Noise but you still trudged towards the house, grunting in effort with every step. You were halfway across the field when Will came bursting through the door, Cole hot on his heels. “Y/N, stop right there! Don’t come any closer!”

You stopped in your tracks. He meant business. “Look, Will, I’m sorry! But I heard his Noise calling for help, he’s hurt real bad!”

“Yeah, we can hear that.” Cole shouted from behind him. “But he’s not from the town, Y/N, he could be dangerous.”

“Cole, he’s dying! If I can hear that, then so can you! We can figure out who he is later but he needs our help _ now _!”

Uneasy didn’t even begin to cover how the two men in front of you were feeling. “Fine. Get him inside before someone hears him.” Will went back into the house while Cole rushed over to take the boy off your shoulders. Farm work made you strong but his dead weight was really starting to strain your muscles.

The two of you carried him inside and laid him on your bed, where Will had already pulled out the first aid kit and laid down clean sheets. Cole pulled the boy from your grasp entirely and laid him down. “Y/N, we’re gonna need water. Lots of it.”

“On it.” You ran outside to the pump, filling the bucket next to it to the brim and ran back as quickly as you could without spilling any. When you got back, you quickly looked away. Will and Cole had already stripped off the boy’s shirt and pants, leaving him in a grimy-looking pair of boxers, so that they could get a better idea of what his wounds were. You inched over, actively trying not to look at his half-nakedness, setting the bucket down next to Will. “I uh, I-I got, I got the-the thing, uh the-the water. I got the water.”

“Thanks. Here,” Cole tossed you a bundle from his side of the bed, “throw those in the tub, we’ll wash them later.” You looked down and saw that you were holding the boy’s clothes.

You suddenly felt a bit light-headed but you nodded. “Uh any-anything else I need to do? Right now?”

“Unless you want to help clean him up, not really.” Cole smirked at you. _ Judging by your expression, you probably don’t _.

“Great. Thanks, uh, I’ll-I’ll be outside then.” You rushed out, throwing the shirt and pants in your hands into the laundry-slash-bathtub on your way out.

\--

You sat outside until Cole came out to tell you the boy was fine and to go get some food for dinner. Bringing back some vegetables and salted meat from your stores, you brought them to Will in the kitchen and ventured into your room. You peeked in, seeing the boy lying there, asleep, the sheet (thankfully) covering him up to his chest. You padded closer, gently perching on the edge of the bed to get a better look at him. His face was clean, although covered with small cuts here and there and a bruise starting to form on his left cheek right under his eye. You cautiously lifted the sheet to see the extent of his wounds. Other than a stitched-up gash on his right side just under his ribs, he looked fine. You pulled the sheet back up just as Cole came in to call you to dinner, causing you to wonder just how long you’d been staring at the unconscious boy in your bed, but you followed him out.

You woke up the next morning to another blast of Noise.

His Noise.

You leapt up from the couch where you spent the night, since your bed was otherwise occupied, and ran to your room. You stumbled in to find the boy sitting upright in bed, backing up to the headboard as Will and Cole stood at the foot, holding their hands up to show they weren’t a threat. “What did you do to him?!”

Will whipped his head around to look at you. “Oh geez. It’s fine, Y/N, we got this.”

“You really don’t, seeing how he’s obviously terrified of you two.” You looked at the boy, his eyes wide as he stared at you, his chest rising and falling rapidly. _ His very toned chest. And those arms- stop it. _ There were often moments when you were glad you didn’t have Noise and this was one of them. “It’s okay. You’re safe here, I promise.” You spoke softly, gently, offering him your open hand. His eyes darted wildly between the three of you, finally settling on you. He stopped pushing himself into the headboard and his grip on the sheets loosened but he was still on guard. “There, see? You’re safe here, we’re not going to hurt you. I’m Y/N-”

“Y/N, don’t-”

“This is Will and Cole. We saved you, we’re not going to hurt you.” His shoulders slackened the tiniest bit. “Will, did you make breakfast already?” You saw him nod from the corner of your eye, never breaking eye contact with the boy. “Can you go get some? He’s probably starving. Cole, why don’t you find him some clothes?” The two men left the room and you were left alone. You nodded to the chair that was next to the bed. “Is it okay if I sit?” He gave a small nod and you approached carefully, not wanting to startle him. “There. Now-”

“Why can I still hear them? Those two guys?” The boy looked so scared, it made your heart melt.

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t-”

“I can still hear them. Loud and clear, as if they were sitting where you are. Why?”

“Well, that’s how Noise works, you can hear everyone’s thoughts. Well, except for mine but I don’t know how to explain that because I guess I don’t even really know why.”

“What...Noise? I-I don’t...I don’t understand.”

“What-what don’t you understand?” You were starting to get concerned.

“I-I wasn’t like this before, I didn’t...I couldn’t...hear things.”

Your eyes widened in realization. “You...you didn’t have Noise?”

“No.”

“How...well before we get into the ‘how’, who are you?”

“Tom. My name is Tom Holland.”


End file.
